What Happened on Campaign Trail Today: Trump in Georgia, Harris on Abortion

Former President Donald Trump discussed key tenets of his economic policy in Georgia on Tuesday, while Vice President Kamala Harris said she supported ending the Senate’s filibuster rule in order to protect abortion rights.
Election Day is just 42 days away, and voters are already casting ballots in the handful of states where early voting has begun. Harris and Trump are locked in a tight race, with polls in battleground states showing a razor-thin margin between the two candidates.
Harris and Trump touted some of their most salient positions on Tuesday, with the former president delivering a speech in the swing state of Georgia. Harris, meanwhile, discussed ending the filibuster in an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio.
Here are five crucial stories from the campaign trail you may have missed on Tuesday.
Trump spoke in Savannah about his plans for the economy, one of the most important issues in the race. He discussed manufacturing and taxes while also wading into other, unrelated topics, as well as making attacks against Harris.
He unveiled a number of his ideas for improving the economy. For instance, he said he would appoint a manufacturing ambassador, who would be tasked with going around the world and convincing “major manufacturers to pack up and move back to America where they want to be.”
“For years, we watched other countries steal our jobs. Now, we are going to be going after their jobs and then bringing them back to America where they belong and where, frankly, they want to be,” Trump said.
He pledged to give companies lower taxes and energy costs, and a lesser “regulatory burden,” if they make their products in the U.S.
The speech comes after he threatened John Deere with a 200 percent tariff on its products if the company continues with its plans to move production to Mexico. Tariffs have been a cornerstone of Trump’s economic agenda, while Harris has argued that they would pass on higher costs to U.S. consumers.
Polls have shown Trump with an advantage on the economy over Harris, but recent surveys suggest she may be cutting into his lead on this issue. Trump has sought to tie Harris to the high prices that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, but the inflation has fallen over the past few years. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve last week announced a substantial half-point interest rate cut, a potential boon for Harris.
Meanwhile, Harris told Wisconsin Public Radio she supports ending the Senate filibuster to allow passage of a bill that would codify abortion rights.
“I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe and get us to the point where 51 votes would be what we need to put back in law the protections for reproductive freedom,” the vice president told NPR reporter Kate Archer Kent in an interview that aired Tuesday morning.
Even though a majority of senators support reproductive rights, such a bill would not have enough support to get past the procedural filibuster, which requires support from 60 senators.
Harris’ comments drew a backlash from Senator Joe Manchin, an independent who caucuses with Democrats. He told CNN he would not endorse Harris because of her remarks.
“She knows the filibuster is the holy grail of democracy. It’s the only thing that keeps us talking and working together. If she gets rid of that, then this would be the House on steroids,” he said.
Abortion has proved to be one of the Democratic Party’s strongest issues after the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade, the case that for decades has guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion. Backlash over the conservative majority’s ruling played a role in shrinking the “red wave” Republicans hoped to ride to victory that November.
Harris frequently discusses her support for abortion rights on the campaign trail, and Democrats hope the issue will turn moderate, suburban women away from Trump in November.
In ruby-red Nebraska, GOP Governor Jim Pillen delivered some bad news to Trump.
Nebraska is one of two states, along with Maine, to split their Electoral College votes. The statewide winner gets two votes in the college, and each candidate gets an additional vote for each congressional district he or she carries.
Trump is expected to easily get four of Nebraska’s five votes, but Harris is viewed as a slight favorite in the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District, which may be the tiebreaker in some Electoral College scenarios.
Republicans wanted to move the state to a winner-take-all system, which would deny Harris that one, potentially decisive, vote. But Pillen said on Tuesday he doesn’t plan to call a special session after state Senator Mike McDonnell said he doesn’t support these efforts.
In a statement, Pillen said: “Unfortunately, we could not persuade 33 state senators. Senator Mike McDonnell of Omaha has confirmed he is unwilling to vote for winner-take-all before the 2024 election. That is profoundly disappointing to me and the many others who have worked so earnestly to ensure all Nebraskans’ votes are sought after equally this election.”
This means Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District will remain up for grabs in November, making Harris’ potential path to 270 votes a bit less complicated.
In New York, President Joe Biden delivered a speech at the United Nations for the final time, reflecting on the “remarkable sweep of history” he has seen since he was first elected senator, in 1972.
He said he was elected at a historic “inflection point,” defined by the Cold War and turmoil in the Middle East, as well as a divided country. But he entered public life “out of optimism,” he said.
“The United States and the world got through that moment. It wasn’t easy or simple, without significant setbacks. But we’d go on to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons through arms control and go on to bring the Cold War itself to an end,” he said.
He urged the world to not forget that things can “get better.”
“I know many look at the world today and see difficulties and react with despair, but I do not. I won’t. As leaders, we don’t have the luxury,” he said.
“I recognize the challenges from Ukraine to Gaza to Sudan and beyond: war, hunger, terrorism, brutality, record displacement of people, a climate crisis, democracy at risk, strains within our societies, the promise of artificial intelligence and its significant risks. The list goes on.”
Polls released on Tuesday revealed the state of the presidential race 42 days before the election.